Audience foils Parivar bid to stop screening of Kashmiri film

Ocean of Tears has a certificate for universal screening from the Censor Board.

Sangh Parivar activists disrupted the screening of Kashmiri documentary, Ocean of Tears, in Thrissur, where a film festival is underway. However, the audience and festival organisers foiled the BJP-RSS bid by forming a human chain to protect the projector and screen from the agitators.

Ocean of Tears has a certificate for universal screening from the Censor Board and has been produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust, New Delhi. Alleging that the documentary was Pakistan funded and would demoralise Indian security forces, the activists had warned the organisers of the ViBGYOR Alternative International Film Festival that they would prevent the screening.

On Friday, 70-odd men led by BJP Thrissur district president A Nagesh reached the hall. Barely 10 minutes after the screening started, protesters barged into the hall to damage the screen. “The audience stood up against the agitators and formed a human chain to prevent them from damaging the screen and projector,’’ festival director P Baburaj said.

As the screening resumed, the protesters had no option but to leave. Following a complaint from the organisers, Thrissur police have registered a case against Nagesh and 50 others.